The invention broadly relates to a board game of the checker or chess type in that two opposing players move their playing pieces in accordance with prescribed rules in an effort to outwit the opponent's strategy and moves. Of these two examples, the invention most closely resembles the conventional game of chess in piece movement and capture strategy.
A conventional chess game is played on a chessboard, identical to a checkerboard, with thirty-two pieces, one set of sixteen-white, and one set of sixteen-black, for each of two opposing players. The conventional board includes sixty-four squares of two alternating colors, usually white and black or red and black. The playing pieces are ranked with each rank being allowed certain moving privileges in varying patterns along the squares of the playing board.
One player each is situated across from the opposing player on each of two opposing sides of the chessboard. These two players, one for each side, face each other across the board, and each player has his own set of playing pieces that are initially arranged in a predetermined order on that player's side of the playing board. The object of the game is to maneuver one's men and pieces, according to prescribed rules, in such a way as to put the most highly-ranked piece, the opponent's king, in a condition of "checkmate." Checkmate is a situation in which that king is threatened with capture and cannot move out of vulnerability in any direction.
In an effort to promote additional glamour underlying the chess game, some known chess sets have substituted the figures of well known generals, such as Mr. Lee and Mr. Grant, for the conventional queen playing pieces. The traditional rules of play, however, have not been changed and conventional rules and playing surface size are employed.
Along with the wide appeal of chess, it is now also popular for computers to play a chess game, with the computer itself acting as one opponent. In computer chess, a computer has been programmed beforehand to play the many conventional moves based upon a data analysis of both of the opponent's moves in a conventional chess match. Although certainly powerful as far as data processing goes, a computer is not particularly adept at long range decision making. In other words, the computer program must have the data available in the program if it is to outwit the human player.
Even with the advent of so-called artificial intelligence, the long range decision making of a human being will generally defeat the computer in conventional chess games. This invention, however, adds several additional new dimensions that a computer will most likely not be capable of accommodating. For example, the invention: (1) expands the size of the chess playing field; (2) adds new types of moves for the playing pieces in that one of the playing pieces can suddenly "board" another (a gunboat playing piece) under prescribed conditions; (3) restricts some pieces from movement within certain board-restricted zones, and (4) adds a "boarding" feature for a player's President that provides, while boarded, a combination of the move options into that of both the president and the gunboat.
In short, the complexity of the new chess game will be increased dramatically by these new features, thus adding more enjoyment to the game for opponents. The "boarding" move will make computer chess with the new improved game more complex, tactically, due to the player's decision making involved in electing when and, whether or not, to board any given piece.